Embedded Systems: DSPs and MCUs Read from Each Other's PlaybookNews & Analysis 12/22/2004 Post a commentIt's generally conceded that embedded systems will play a dominant role in electronics markets for a long time to come. The PC may have started the digital revolution four decades ago but PCs have now evolved into a mature market. The action for 2005 is in embedded systems of all descriptionsbut most specifically consumer electronics. In this feature article, Jack Shandle takes a look at embedded systems in 2005.

December Newsletter: Xilinx Unveils Virtex-4 DetailsDesign How-To 12/10/2004 Post a commentXilinx recently announced the architectural details of its new FPGA family, the Virtex-4. Interestingly, some of the new parts resemble the older Virtex-II Pro FPGAs, while other family members resemble the competing Altera Stratix II FPGAs.

December Newsletter: Jeff Bier's "Impulse Response"News & Analysis 12/10/2004 Post a commentSignal processing applications are becoming more complicated, and so are the processors that run them. As a result, application developers rely on compilers and other tools more heavily than ever. This has made tools a decisive factor in processor-selection decisions.

December Newsletter: ZSP Family Adds Low-End, High-End CoresDesign How-To 12/10/2004 Post a commentLSI Logic recently added two new processors, the ZSP200 and the ZSP540, to its ZSP family of superscalar DSP cores. With the addition of these cores, the ZSP family has become the largest family of code-compatible DSP cores available today. As with existing family members, the names of the new cores reflect their levels of parallelism. The ZSP200 offers less parallelism than the ZSP400, while the ZSP540 falls between the ZSP500 and ZSP600 in terms of parallelism.

Intel bullish on technology direction at Fall analysts' meetingNews & Analysis 12/7/2004 Post a commentSounding anything other than a company that has had its share of missteps in recent months, outgoing Intel chief executive Craig Barrett expressed confidence and even a bit of cockiness at the company's fall analysts' conference in New York, predicting Intel's technology strengths would distance the semiconductor giant from its competitors.